By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The East London Regional Court in the Eastern Cape has dismissed the application of the EFF leader Julius Malema and his bodyguard Adriaan Snyman to have the charges against them dropped.
The two, who have pleaded not guilty to all six charges levelled against them, had invoked Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Malema and his bodyguard are charged with a shooting incident that took place on 28 July 2018 at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane, during the EFF’s fifth birthday celebrations
East London Magistrate Twanett Olivier handed down judgment on Malema and Snyman’s discharge application to get the gun charges against them dismissed on Thursday morning.
In September, Malema’s legal team brought an application to have the charges dismissed due to what they called a lack of substantial evidence.
Magistrate Twanet Olivier dismissed the two accused’s application to withdraw all charges against them due to lack of evidence.
“At this stage of the proceedings, I think the court has placed the evidence so far presented by the state on record,” Olivier said in her ruling.
“I have, in the evidence, clarified the issues he’s raised. I have tried to give reasons for the decision that I am about to pronounce and to add whether it is correct or not in respect to accused number one.
“A mere say-so, that it was a movie gun, does not make it so. It’s not evidence, the mere say-so, in the light of the evidence that has been presented so far.
“I am not saying which has been accepted as facts but which is being presented so far. In that light, accused 1 and 2, number one in respect of count one, two, three and five. Accused number two in respect of counts four and six, the application for discharge in terms of Section 174 of Act 51 of 1997 is not granted.”
The matter has been postponed to 15 to 17 July 2024, and bail has been extended.
Malema told supporters outside the court he had suggested the date to be after the May 2024 general election as he is currently busy with campaign work
“We will come back here to sit and listen to that incompetent magistrate, who comes late to court, who can’t get her papers in order, who can’t read her own judgment.
“Who adjourns the court during judgment to go backand receive [Public Enterprises Minister ] Pravin Gordhan’s call, and receives [President Cyril] Ramaphosa’s call and receive [National Director of Public Prosecutions ] Shamila Batohi’s call? When she comes back to give her judgment she’s shaking like hell because it’s not her judgment, it’s a sponsored judgment.”
“Where have you ever heard such a thing, that a magistrate leaves in the middle of a judgment to go behind the court and when she comes back she is shaking?”
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Video Courtesy of EFFSA.